The Honolulu Advertiser took the top public service award and nine other categories in the 2005 Excellence in Journalism Awards for Hawai'i.

Jim Dooley's "Child Support" story in The Advertiser won the investigative reporting award in the contest sponsored by the Hawai'i Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin won 11 first-place awards and KITV took six television awards. Honolulu Magazine won five top awards and Pacific Business News scored four first-place honors at the award ceremonies Saturday night.

The contest covers print, broadcast and online media. Judges from the Greater Oregon and Cincinnati chapters of the national journalism organization evaluated the entries from the Islands.

The Advertiser's public service award, the biggest trophy of the night, honored the newspaper's extensive series on disaster preparedness in Hawai'i.

The judges called the paper's effort "a remarkably thorough series that anticipates about every possible disaster that could befall Hawai'i, and what the master plan is."

Dooley's "Child Support" story drew praise from the judges for a "great investigative story told with all the elements."

The Advertiser Web site won two awards — the online spot-news prize and the breaking-news honor — for its coverage of Hawai'i troops killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq.

"The staff showed their resourcefulness, covering a story halfway across the globe and all its ramifications for local families," the judges said.

The Advertiser's Mike Gordon won the general news/enterprise reporting award for his story on missing foster children.

The newspaper also won for feature writing/long-form, editorial writing, editorial cartoons, online general news, and informational graphic.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin team of Richard Borreca, B.J. Reyes and Sally Apgar took first place in government reporting for their story "Battle for the Akaka Bill."

Judges commended the team for their "thorough reporting and a balanced look at all sides."

Honolulu magazine's A. Kam Napier took the top column writing/features prize for "Afterthoughts Column: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Visions."

The monthly snared the industry or trade reporting prize for "The Hawaii Music Issue" and the profile award for "The Honolulu 100."

Prabha Natarajan's tourism industry coverage at Pacific Business News scored the first-place award for business reporting in a nondaily newspaper.

Kristen Consillio of Pacific Business News won the nondaily newspaper general news and enterprise honor for "Bogus Pharmacy School."

In television, KITV took the government, general news/enterprise, feature, investigative, series and special news categories.

Keoki Kerr of KITV won the investigative prize for his story on medical examiners.

The judges said Kerr "went behind the surface of an employee dispute and found actions by a government agency that raised questions (about) how it protects the most vulnerable of all."